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BIRTHPLACE 

OF THE 

PATRIOT JAMES' OTIS 





Copyrighted 1917 by Mrs. Charles F. Russell 

THE PATRIOT JAMES OTIS 

From a portrait by Jonathan Blackburn, reproduced by permission of the owner, 
Mrs. Charles F. Russell 



BIRTHPLACE 



OF THE 



PATRIOT JAMES^ OTIS 



By 



FRANCIS W: SPRAGUE, 

RIVEKBANK COURT, 
CAMBRIDGE. 




1917 



3dZ 



copyright 1917 

Francis W. Sprague 

riverbank court 

cambridge 



/ 



FEB 14 1917 

©ClA458i31 



BIRTHPLACE OF THE PATRIOT 
JAMES = OTIS 



Plymouth Colony Records, Vol. 3 page 148, "John Smith of 
Barnstable, to John^ Otis, of Scituate, Oct. 21, 1667". 

Plymouth Colony Records. 

Will of John^ Otis, dated Scituate, Mass. January 11, 1683. 
He died January 16, 1683. 



DEED FROM JOHN SMITH TO JOHN OTIS 

ALL that my dwelling house and lands both upland and 
meddow lying and being in Barnstable aforesaid on the west 
syde of a place Comonly called the bridge: the said uplands 
Containing by Comon estimation fifty acrees, be it more or less, 
and nine acrees of meddow be it more or less. The said upland 
bounded prtely by the meddow below the bridge : and prtely by 
a sett off: by the lands in occupation of Samuell and John 
Hinckley easterly: and by the lands in the occupation of 
John Chipman westerly : and by the meddow and prtely by the 
upland in occupation of William Crocker Northerly : and prtely 
by the lands of William Crocker and prtely by the Comon 
Southerly : and six acrees of the aforesaid meddow boundes east- 
erly by the bridge Creeke and westerly by the upland and south- 
erly by the meddow now in the occupation of Bridgett Hinckley : 
viz : or her assignes : northerly by a smale Creeke from the upland 
Running into the said Bridge Creeke: and the Resedue in a 
certaine prssell of Marsh as it was graunted him by the Towne 

(3) 



Containing three acrees be it more or less : Together with all yards 
houses edefices and all and singulare the proffitts privilidges and 
appurtenances in upon or belonging to all and singular the 
prmises with all and singulare deeds writings Records evidences 
touching and Concerning onely the prmises or any prte thereof. 

Dated October 21st, 1667. 

Signed, sealed and John Smith (Seal) 

delivered in the prsence 
of William Crocker 
Samuell AUin 



FROM WILL OF JOHN OTIS OF SITTUATE 

Sittuate January 11-1683. 

Imps. I give & bequeath unto ray Elder Daughter Mary the wife 
of John Gorum* ye sum of fifty pound with what she hath 
already had of my estate ye remainder thereof to be paid 
to her at such time & in such maner as her Mother my 
Executrix hereinafter named shall think fitt 

Item I give & bequeath unto my other two Daughters Hanah 
& Elizabeth fiftie pound a peice, to be paid to them at 
such time & in such maner as their mother aforesd shall 
thinke fitt. 

Item My will is that all my housing & lands at Hingham 
Barnstable & at accord pond shall be Devided betweene 
my four sons John Steven James & Job that is to say ye 
aforesd lands being duly estimated according to value 
my Eldest Son John shall have two shares or fift parts 
thereof ; sett out or divided to him to have & to hold to 
him & his heirs forever & my son Steven shall have 
one share or fifth part thereof Devided or set out to him 
to have & to hold to him & his heirs forever, & my son 
James shall have one share or fift part thereof sett out 
or Devided to him to have & to hold to him & his heirs 
for ever & my son Job shall have ye other share or fift 
part thereof to him &> his heirs forever. And further 
my mind is that my sou John shall have one of his two 
shares set out to him in some short time after my Decease 
& ye other share given to my son John & all ye rest of 

*John Gorhara 

Mary** Otis mentioned in this will, married Lt. Colonel John"^ Gorham, 
(son of Captain Johni Gorham and Desire Howland) February 24, 1674. 
They lived and died in the "Old Gorham House," still standing in Barn- 
stable, near the Yarmouth line. They were ray ancestors. 

(5) 



6 

these lands, abovesd. given to ray other three sons afore 
named shall remaine in their mothers possession tell she 
see cause to possess them of their so several shares or at 
her Decease : & I desier my son John to take ye manage- 
ment of those four shares for his mothers use tell she 
other wise Dispose. 

Item I give & bequeath unto my son Joseph all my housing 
& land in this Township of Sittuate (except two smale 
parcells of land one at Stonny Brook and ye other at 
Georg Mores brook) to be possessed & enjoyed by him 
after his mothers Decease to have & to hold from thence 
forth to him & his heirs forever ; & my will is that if my 
son Joseph desier to have ye ad two parsells of land at 
Stonny Brooke & George Mores brook, if he shall give 
securitie to his mother at her demand to pay thirty 
pounds within one year after her decease to such as she 
shall appoint him to pay ye same unto, that then he shall 
have ye ad two p^'cells of land also, to him & his heirs 
for ever, otherwise my Executrix shall dispose thereof 
or sell ye same if she see cause & make a good estate of 
inheritance to such as shall purchase ye same ; and 1 have 
given ye sd housing & land in Sittuate to my son Joseph 
to ye intent he shall live with his mother & manage ye 
sd farme for her use during her life. 

Item I give & bequeath unto my well beloved Wife Mary all 
my housing & land whatsoever (except one share of those 
lands given to John) during ye terme of her naturall life 
& also all my moneys goods & chatties debts & demands, 
whatsoever, for her comfort & to bring up my younger 
children & to her dispose, etc. 

Signed, sealed & declared by John Otis abovesd to be his 
last will & testement in prseuce of us. 

John Otis (Seal) 



ACCORDING to History of Hingham, Mass. Vol. 3, p. 102 
"He (John^ Otis) was born in England, 1620, removed to 
Scituate, Mass. 1661, from there to Barnstable, 1678, returning 
however soon after to Scituate, where he died 16 January 1683, 
aged 63. He married in Hingham, Mass. Mary Jacobs, daughter 
of Nicholas Jacobs and his wife Mary". In his will he mentions 
houses and land in Scituate, Hingham, and Barnstable. To son 
Joseph house and land in Scituate, (and it appears that his son 
John^ Otis, received the house and Otis Farm, "opposite 
Hinckley's Lane, near the Marshes West Barnstable". 

John^ Otis, (son of John^ and Mary Jacobs) was born in 
Hingham, Mass., 1657, he married July 18, 1683, Mercy Bacon, 
of Barnstable. They removed to Barnstable, where he died 23 
Sept. 1727 aged 70. Their son Colonel James* Otis, born in 
Barnstable, 14 January 1702, was a Colonel and a Judge. He 
married Mary Allyne. They had ten children. 

James^ Otis, The Patriot, oldest son of Colonel James* Otis, 
and Mary Allyne, was born 5 Feb. 1724-5, in the family mansion, 
at Barnstable, opposite Hinckley's Lane near the Marshes, 
West Parish. He died May 23, 1783. "(See Otis Family, by 
Horatio N. Otis, N. E. Gen. Register, (1848) Vol. 2 p. p. 283- 
289.) See also Tudor's life of James^ Otis, (1823) p.p. 6-495. 
James^ Otis born in the family mansion at Great Marshes, in 
what is now called West Barnstable". "The house still standing 
(1823) but with the loss of its wings". 

Deane's History of Scituate, p. 318, states that "John^ Otis, in 
1678, went from Scituate to Barnstable, and took up the Otis 
Farm", "near Hinckley's Lane". "He left in Barnstable, his 

(7) 



eldest son John^ Otis, and returned and deceased in Scituate, 
in 1683". "Son John^ Otis (born 1667), was the ancestor of the 
distinguished Lawyers and Patriots by the name of Otis, in 
Barnstable and Boston, to whose fame no commendation of ours 
can add". 

John Gorham Palfrey, the historian, in his Oration at the two 
hundreth anniversary of Barnstable, in 1839 (p. 27) said, " On 
the fifth of February, 1725, in a farmhouse at Great Marshes, 
which within a few years has gone to decay and been removed, 
but which could money and art have preserved it, the grati- 
tude of an emancipated people should have made to stand for- 
ever, was born the pioneer of the American Revolution, James^ 
Otis." 

Amos' Otis, in "Barnstable Families" Vol. 1 p. 132 says the 
Otis Farm was east of the Bursley Farm, On page 133 he states 
that John Bursley 2nd, inherited the mansion house of John 
Bursley 1st "■taken down in 1827'". On page 135 "John Bursley 
2nd owned at his death in 1726, the same real estate that his 
father did in 1660. (This being true it could not have been the 
Otis Farm in 1724 when the Patriot James^ Otis, was born.) 
See "Barnstable Families" Vol. 1 pp. 156-157 "John Chipman's 
land bounded easterly partly by land of John-^ Otis and partly 
by land of William Crocker". "The elder Chipmau, owned 
lands in West Barnstable before 1672". In volume two (2) p. 
31 "Samuel Hinckley (Father of Governor Thomas Hinckley), 
was one of the first to remove to W. Barnstable, where he 
owned one of the best farms in the town", ("wow owned by 
Levi L. Goodspeed, Esq.") ("Barnstable Families" was written 
between 1850 and 1860.) (Vol. 2 p. 31) "Samuel Hinckley's 
son-in-law John Smith (the John Smith who deeded his farm to 
John^ Otis, of Scituate "Oct. 21, 1667") owned the adjoining 
lands since known as the Otis Farm.'''' The '■'■bridge" mentioned 
in the deed (of 1667) was very near what is now the railroad 
crossing over the State Highway in W. Barnstable, and near 
"Hinckley's Lane". 



9 

Amos'^ Otis, the historian, was the great grandson of Solomon* 
Otis, who was an uncle of the Patriot James^ Otis. Solomon* 
Otis was Registrar of Deeds for Barnstable. Amos''' Otis was born 
in Barnstable, 17 Aug. 1801 (See N. E. Gen. Register Vol. 51 
p. 329). (1897). His "Barnstable Families" is the best history 
of the town ever written. 

Tudor says the Otis Mansion was still standing in 1823, 
Amos" Otis, was twenty-two years of age at that time. 

The map included with these notes shows where the Cape Cod 
railroad crosses the State Highway, also shows Bridge Creek, 
very near that crossing, and "Hinckley's Lane." 

Francis W. Spragub 




W84 



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